


Contempt or Love

by rhodrymavelyne



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2019-12-03
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:55:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21661786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhodrymavelyne/pseuds/rhodrymavelyne
Summary: Hannibal Lecter and Frederick Chilton observe each other while Hannibal is incarcerated. All the while Hannibal probes Frederick for morsels of information about Will.
Relationships: Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Comments: 4
Kudos: 75





	Contempt or Love

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place during the third season after Hannibal ‘surrendered’, is in Dr. Alana Bloom’s care and speaking to Dr. Frederick Chilton from time to time. I don’t own Hannibal, but for the past few months, it’s owned me.

From time to time, Dr. Hannibal Lecter would deign to speak with Dr. Frederick Chilton, his biographer, his ticket to fame. 

Not that Hannibal cared about any of this, at least not that he’d admit. He hid what he wanted behind layer and layer of response. It was only too easy to get tangled up in one’s own vanity, to miss the vanities waiting to be revealed. 

Unfortunately, he did have a tendency to fall for it. In his wiser moments, Dr. Frederick Chilton caught a glimpse of this deception, this game in which his own vanity was a trap, yet he missed it.

After all, Hannibal Lecter couldn’t be that different than he, Frederick Chilton, except in being a monster. A monster with a weakness which led to his being caged. 

“I may be shallow, Hannibal, but I’ve guessed what you want.” Frederick Chilton did his best to smirk, yet he could feel his lips twisting into a petulant glower. Damn the man, anyway. 

“What do I want, Frederick?” Hannibal looked up with a little side smile, yet he continued to sketch.

“Please.” Chilton leaned back. “I’ve never been as intimate with Dr. Bloom as you have. Nor have I enjoyed friendship such as you have with Jack Crawford.” Frederick allowed his statement to sink in, along with a sense of superiority. Alana and Jack could look down their noses at he, Chilton, for as long as they wished, but he’d never been duped as they had. He’d never deluded himself into thinking he was friends with Hannibal Lecter or more than that. “I understand you, though, as well as they do.” Chilton tapped his fingers for emphasis on the arm of his chair, sensing it would irritate and distract Hannibal. “I saw you, the real you before either of them did.”

“You saw me because Will Graham pointed in my direction.” A young man’s head, covered with dark hair began to appear amidst the lines of pencil Hannibal applied with careful diligence. Frederick sometimes wondered why he didn’t simply do sketch after sketch of Will Graham, like an obsessed vampire in an early 21st century TV show. No, such behaviour was too untidy for Hannibal Lecter. “You understood me because I allowed you to.” 

“Such arrogance, even sitting here in your gilded prison.” Chilton glowered while keeping the smirk twitching on his lips. It threatened to escape, to twist into something dour and beyond his control. “At least I don’t have the sorrow, folly, or guilt to reproach myself with that they do, the knowledge that they were fool enough to trust you.”

“They were my friends.” Unperturbed, Hannibal continued to sketch. “Not only that, they gave me a precious gift.”

“Yes, they must reproach themselves for that more than anything.” Chilton leaned forward, working his eyebrows together. “They gave you Will Graham. I doubt you have any intention of giving him back.”

“Have you seen Will?” The question was asked with casual carelessness. 

Chilton wasn’t fooled or about to be distracted. “You framed me for your crimes. Not just to have a patsy, but to get Will Graham out of prison.” Chilton studied the serene countenance of his rival, whom still managed to exude authority in his pajamas. “If you didn’t want your precious Will in prison, why did you put him there?”

He didn’t expect to get a response. To his surprise, he did.

“The most beautiful transformations come through adversity.” Hannibal gazed down at the young man’s pensive, earnest expression in the sketch which was revealing itself. “Will Graham never benefitted from being coddled, however much I might be tempted to coddle him.”

“Coddled.” Frederick grinned at this statement. “I’m not sure which is worse, Hannibal. Your contempt or your love.”

Hannibal glanced up from his drawing. One finger caressed the graphite image of the young man’s cheek. “He’s living in the wilderness, isn’t he, Frederick?” Hannibal glanced over at the psychiatrist. “Once more surrounded by dogs, hiding from civilization.”

“Did you think I’d tell you where he lived?” Chilton let out a sharp bark of laughter, rocking slightly in his chair. 

“I’ll find out, Frederick.” The cool statement was as much threat as promise. “You’re far too vain and selfish to hide him from me.”

Frederick Chilton shuddered a little at this. If he’d felt anything for Will Graham other than vague fascination and incomprehension, he might have been afraid. 

As it was, the words sent a thrill of anticipation running through him. Life was never dull for a psychiatrist when Hannibal Lecter got together with Will Graham. Perhaps he should have been afraid. Perhaps he should have recalled that the two of them had drawn him into their dance, getting him shot in the face. He, Frederick Chilton, too often got caught up in the fall-out of their bizarre marriage. 

An advantage to treading in shallow emotional waters was nothing truly washed over him. Not for long. Scarred in the face, yet nothing truly left a lasting emotional imprint. He always bounced back from whatever life threw at him. 

Hannibal noted this and smiled a little to himself. It was hard to say whether Frederick was blessed or cursed in this. It made him a nuisance to those capable of deeper feeling, but Frederick himself would never notice the lack.

It did make him curious what would actually make a lasting impression on this man. Perhaps an opportunity to find out would present itself. 

Especially once Will re-entered the picture. Which he would.

Hannibal touched the sketch in front of him with especial tenderness, a tenderness he’d never felt for anyone else. 

Soon.


End file.
